Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Weber, Habermas and Transformations of the European State
  • Cited by 17
      • Show more authors
      • You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Select format
    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      14 May 2010
      16 April 2007
      ISBN:
      9780511756047
      9780521811408
      9780521743631
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511756047
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.552kg, 318 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.43kg, 318 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Political Theory, Politics and International Relations, Philosophy, Political Philosophy
    You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Selected: Digital
    Add to cart View cart Buy from Cambridge.org
    Subjects:
    Political Theory, Politics and International Relations, Philosophy, Political Philosophy
    Information

    Book description

    This book critically engages Jürgen Habermas's comprehensive vision of constitutional democracy in the European Union. John P. McCormick draws on the writings of Max Weber (and Habermas's own critique of them) to confront the difficulty of theorizing progressive politics during moments of radical state transformation. Both theorists employ normative and empirical categories, drawn from earlier historical epochs, to analyze contemporary structural transformations: Weber evaluated the emergence of the Sozialstaat with antedated categories derived from nineteenth-century and premodern historical examples; while Habermas understands the EU almost exclusively in terms of the liberal (Rechtsstaat) and welfare state (Sozialstaat) paradigms. Largely forsaking the focus on structural transformation that characterized his early work, Habermas conceptualizes the EU as a territorially expanded nation-state. McCormick demonstrates the deficiencies of such an approach and outlines a more appropriate normative-empirical model, the supranational Sektoralstaat, for evaluating prospects for constitutional and social democracy in the EU.

    Reviews

    "This ambitious work is a reflection on the fate of the state in an era of globalization and internationalization. While its focus is the European Union, it also investigates the intellectual history of the last century in an illuminating comparison of its two major ‘book ends’ in state theory -- Weber and Habermas. McCormick shows that Weber, despite Habermas’s attempt to transcend the problematic aspects of his theory, provides a resource for a compelling critique of Habermas, and that both remain highly relevant for understanding the fate of the state today."
    -David Dyzenhaus, University of Toronto

    "In a book remarkable both for its scholarly maturity and its intellectual boldness, the author assesses and complements Habermas’s authoritative critique of Max Weber’s views about the modern state and its law. He establishes the virtues and the limitations of the contribution both authors can make to contemporary political theory as it confronts a great challenge: Is it possible to uphold and extend the values of democracy and of the rule of law within institutional contexts, such as the European Union, which transcend the nation-state?"
    -Gianfranco Poggi, University of Trento, Italy

    "Weber, Habermas, and Transformations of the European State is a singular achievement. John McCormick displays an admirable mastery of the complex empirical and theoretical literature pertaining to Europe’s future. He deftly exposes the shortcomings of earlier attempts to understand European politics according to the outmoded nation-state model. Thereby, he places the burning contemporary debate over the juridical basis of the European Union on an entirely new theoretical footing. McCormick has written a model study in empirically informed, normative political theory."
    -Richard Wolin, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York

    "...one cannot fail to appreciate the force and urgency of [John McCormick's] appeal for a supranational governance that is desperately needed in the European Union today. This book brings into clear focus one vision and will stimulate further discussion of what form that governance should take, as well making a major contribution to the on-going scholarly engagement with Weber and Habermans."
    -Anthony J. Carroll, Heythrop College, University of London, The Heythrop Journal

    Refine List

    Actions for selected content:

    Select all | Deselect all
    • View selected items
    • Export citations
    • Download PDF (zip)
    • Save to Kindle
    • Save to Dropbox
    • Save to Google Drive

    Save Search

    You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

    Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
    Cancel
    ×

    Contents

    Contents

    Metrics

    Full text views

    Total number of HTML views: 0
    Total number of PDF views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    Book summary page views

    Total views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    * Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

    Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

    Accessibility standard: Unknown

    Why this information is here

    This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

    Accessibility Information

    Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.